This was my message on Sunday last week, October 20, 2019, at the Glory House of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Dallas, US. Please, read on: I told them, how in 1991, in a wedding in Houston, I met a beloved Christian brother I knew in Lagos, who had relocated to the US. I asked him, how things were with him. “Sir, to be honest with you, Jesus should not come until we return to Nigeria,” he told me. Enquiring why he said so, he said, “Because of the way we live here”. May that not be your portion! If you are on that track, may God show you the way out this morning!
The provision of our fruitfulness starts with a decision to walk with God. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” James 4:8. If I do not draw close to Him, He will not draw close to me. Daniel, in exile in Babylon, understood this. That was why he decided that he would not eat nor drink the wine they were serving Nebuchadnezzar, the king, in case idolatry was involved in the preparation – Dan. 1:8. Personal decision is important. Joseph refused to identify with the evil things his brethren, the sons of Jacob, were doing where they were keeping his cattle. He reported them to him – Gen. 37:2. Fruitfulness depends on personal decision that we make.
When we walk with God, we should then be dreaming dreams about our tomorrow. Fruitfulness starts with dreams. Joseph was nobody in his father’s house, the eleventh son, out of his father’s twelve sons and his mother was late, but he dreamt – Gen. 37:5. Circumstances do not preclude us from dreaming. In error, he shared his dream with his brethren. If his mother was alive, she might have discouraged him from doing that. They hated him because of his dream. That did not bother him. He dreamt again and still told them, including his dad. His dad rebuked him, saying in anger: “So your brethren and I will kneel down before you?” – Gen. 37:9-10. In Gen. 43:26 and 44:14, it was fulfilled in Egypt!
It is important that every man should be careful how he rules his family. When Joseph reported the evil deeds of his brethren to Jacob, it did not appear that he cautioned them. When he shared his dreams with them and they were angry with him, it appeared also that Jacob did not rebuke them. He even joined them in reprimanding him because of his dreams. Parents should show good examples for their children to follow. Fear of how their children may react, if rebuked for wrong doing, has often compelled some parents from doing the needful at the expense of moral code. This is wrong.
Apart from the hatred of Jacob’s other children towards Joseph because of his ‘wild’ dreams, they also hated him because their father loved him more than them all. That partiality was demonstrated, when he bought Joseph a special coat of many colours. Parental partiality should be discouraged no matter the great things found in the life of a child. If anybody should forget the agony of such, Jacob should not, as he had passed through the tunnel, where his mum preferred him and his dad preferred Esau, his elder twin brother. The enmity it caused between his family and that of Esau stretched all the ages.
In school, we were taught that Leonardo da Vinci, a famous Italian Artist, was the first man to conceive the idea about airplanes. It was reputed that the Church was angry with him for imagining how God and man would stay together in the sky. A few years after his death, the airplane was invented! May you go ahead and dream. Dream about your tomorrow, dream to be the Governor of your State, dream to be the President of the US or your country. Dream to be the CEO of your company. Dream to excel in your profession. Dream to be one of the branch Pastors of Glory House! Do not allow dream killers to kill your dreams. People may not understand your dreams, so do not be discouraged by what they say or do. Joseph was not.
Bitterness and envy made his brethren to sell him but unknown to them, they were helping in the fulfillment of his dreams. Potiphar, the Security head of Pharaoh, bought him. In his CV was something that neither man nor the devil could do anything about: “And the Lord was with Joseph”. That was it. That was prosperity, the twin brother of fruitfulness. It was not hidden. Potiphar noticed it, and that everything he did prospered. Joseph worked hard, which attracted his master’s favour. Hard work is commendable, but it has its limit. Favour from man is good but nothing to be compared with the one from God. This is why we need God’s favour.
His master promoted him and placed him in-charge of his business. Seeing that, God was pleased with Potiphar, and therefore blessed him mightily, agreeing with Scriptures that anyone, who blesses a child of God, because he is a child of God, will be blessed by Him – Mark 9:41. Potiphar made him to be in-charge of his business and also of his household. Satan is bad but not foolish. When God declared the Lord Jesus as His beloved Son, Satan went ahead to tempt Him on misuse of His divine power and loyalty – Matt. 4:3-9. He did not tempt Him to rob a bank or to carry a lady. It was on food, which He needed most after a prolonged fasting.
His temptation to Joseph was on sex, the likely delight of a youth like him. His choice would determine his future. Potiphar’s wife did what an amorous lady could do to seduce him but he resisted her. “Your husband placed me on trust. How can I betray it? How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” He asked her. To Daniel, eating the king’s food was defiling himself – Dan 1:8. Christians call sin by its name, ‘great wickedness and sin’, but some people call it fun. What is fun in sleeping with another man’s wife or another woman’s husband? If the lady or man is still single, it does not matter. Marriage is waiting for them at the gate! Potiphar’s wife held him, forcing him to sleep with her. That could be a veritable excuse for compromise for some people. Not Joseph! He ran away! There is no excuse for sin.
Three months after I was born-again, Satan sent his daughter to spend two nights with me in the village. I ran away and slept in another compound. Though she did not like what I did, it did not bother me. The Lord Jesus commanded Satan to go behind Him, when he continued tempting Him. And he did, though for a season – Matt. 4:3-10. It is you that will protect your dreams, by refusing the offers from Satan.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002-471; [email protected]